Iran Rejects US-European Draft Resolution at IAEA as Politically Motivated
Tehran says the resolution drafted by the US, UK, France, and Germany at the International Atomic Energy Agency is based on a politicized report by the agency’s director general, as nuclear pressure intensifies alongside Operation Economic Outcast.
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs rejected a US and European draft resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency on Monday calling it politically motivated and based on a politicized report by the IAEA's director general, as the United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany push to refer Tehran to the United Nations Security Council over its alleged failure to comply with nuclear non-proliferation obligations, as Reuters and the Washington Post confirmed on Friday.
"The American and European draft resolution against us at the IAEA is based on the politicized report of the agency's director general,"
Iran's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
The draft resolution, drafted by the United States, Britain, France, and Germany, seeks to refer Iran to the UN Security Council over its alleged failure to comply with nuclear nonproliferation obligations, and could be considered by the IAEA's 35-member Board of Governors at its meeting in Vienna next week. The latest draft asks IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi to transmit the resolution, along with previously adopted resolutions concerning Iran, to all IAEA member states as well as the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly.
The diplomatic move has been under consideration since June 2025 when the IAEA board found Iran officially in noncompliance with its nonproliferation obligations for the first time in 20 years, one day before the US and Israel struck Iran's nuclear sites. Referring Iran to the UN Security Council had been stalled to allow a final push for diplomacy, according to a senior Western diplomat. The IAEA board now has to follow its mandate and act because not only has Iran not cooperated, but even communication is no longer happening.
Since Israel and the US struck Iran's nuclear sites during the 12-day war in June 2025, Iran has not given IAEA inspectors access to nuclear sites that were affected by the strikes, even though Tehran is legally obliged to cooperate with the watchdog under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The agency has also been unable to verify the status of the stockpile of near weapons-grade uranium since the June bombing.
The draft resolution calls on Iran to urgently remedy its non-compliance and take the steps required for the IAEA to provide assurances over the accuracy and completeness of Tehran's nuclear declarations. Diplomats stressed, however, that the resolution remains under negotiation and has not yet been formally submitted to the IAEA board, with its wording potentially still subject to change as member states consider amendments ahead of a possible vote.
Iran has mounted a forceful counter-offensive against the resolution's legitimacy. Tehran's mission to the IAEA described Washington's effort as a pattern of justification for further aggression, saying: "This looks like a pattern of justification for another aggression, as in June and November 2025," as Press TV reported. Iran also pointed out that as recently as June 7, 2026, the day the draft resolution was informally circulated in Vienna, President Trump publicly threatened to attack Iran's nuclear sites again, framing the resolution as providing legal cover for military action rather than genuine non-proliferation enforcement.
The IAEA's confidential report confirmed there has been no progress in its long-running investigation into uranium traces detected by inspectors at various undeclared sites in Iran. Western officials suspect the uranium traces could provide evidence that Iran had a secret nuclear weapons program until 2003. Iran denies pursuing nuclear weapons and maintains its programme is entirely peaceful.
The push to refer Iran to the UN Security Council represents a significant escalation in the nuclear dimension of the broader conflict. Iran's Supreme National Security Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei had previously suggested publicly that Tehran may need to reconsider its rejection of nuclear weapons, arguing that US attacks proved the NPT offers no protection. President Trump has consistently declared that Iran cannot and will never be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon, with Bessent this week framing the entire Operation Economic Outcast campaign as being aimed at ending the Iranian threat rather than merely managing it.